INDIANAPOLIS — Sgt. Richard El and Shawn Anderson knew the clock was ticking.
When kidnapping suspect Nalah Jackson was arrested Thursday afternoon in Indianapolis without baby Kason Thomas, the urgency was real.
“I just had a prayer that, God, please let us find him because I knew what was coming with the storm,” Sgt. Anderson said.
A BOLO alert had been issued in Indiana, and the two officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department had spent most of their shift that day searching for the baby.
Kason had been missing since Monday night, when he and his twin brother Kyair were taken while in running vehicle outside of the Donatos in the Short North. Kyair was found the next day at the Dayton International Airport. But Kason was still missing.
“You kind of get this feeling of maybe time might be running out or whatever the case may be,” Sgt. El said. “And so, I just feel like it was pretty urgent for us to try to locate him.”
It would be just before their shift ended when they finally did find baby Kason. He was found outside a Papa John’s in Indianapolis. A worker there told 10TV’s sister station in Indianapolis that the baby was likely left alone in the vehicle since Tuesday morning when the vehicle was first spotted there.
“When we found him, he was cold, right, but he was awake, he was breathing, he was moving around a little bit,” Sgt. El said. “His eyes were open wide and just trying to take everything in.”
Sgt. Anderson cradled the baby in his arms, and pictures of those moments spread quickly across the Internet.
“It was amazing how calm Kason was,” he said. “He wasn’t crying, he was very aware and observant. And I could tell just holding him, he felt a sense of comfort that he was safe and that everything was going to be okay.”
Kason went to the hospital to be checked out, and the family told 10TV on Friday that he was doing as well as could be expected.
Meanwhile, Jackson is due in court in Marion County, Indiana, Saturday morning. In addition to the local kidnapping charge, she is facing a new charge there of felony battery by bodily waste for allegedly spitting on a deputy while being booked.